Scandal-plagued Toronto Mayor Rob Ford on Wednesday said he is taking a leave of absence in order to enter rehab, after a new video emerged allegedly showing him smoking crack days ago.
Ford, 44, has already admitted to binge drinking and smoking crack and is campaigning for re-election on a give-me-another-chance platform.
Toronto’s Globe and Mail published a screen grab from a video it said its reporters had viewed, in which Ford is seen holding a metal pipe alleged to contain the cocaine derivative.
In the full video, which the paper said was shot by a self-described drug dealer, the mayor of North America’s fourth-largest city is seen taking a hit from a copper colored pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke and shaking his right hand frantically, the Globe and Mail said.
The dealer says the video was shot in the early hours of Saturday last week in the basement of the apartment building where Ford’s sister Kathy lives.
Approached at City Hall on Wednesday evening, Ford declined to respond to questions about the video, the paper said.
The newspaper said the dealer is trying to sell the video “for at least six figures.” The paper said Ford’s sister has also struggled with a drug problem.
Meanwhile, the Toronto Sun tabloid posted on its Web site audio of the mayor, apparently intoxicated, and captured in a bar on Monday night. Ford can be heard swearing and lewdly commenting about several municipal and provincial politicians.
“I have a problem with alcohol, and the choices I have made while under the influence. I have struggled with this for some time,” Ford said in a statement late on Wednesday, the Star said.
“Today, after taking some time to think about my own well-being, how to best serve the people of Toronto and what is in the best interests of my family, I have decided to take a leave from campaigning and from my duties as mayor to seek immediate help,” he said.
Dennis Morris, a lawyer for Ford — who has been campaigning for re-election — told reporters Ford would attend a “facility that assists people with substance abuse difficulties.”
The mayor burst into headlines nearly a year ago when another alleged drug dealer tried to sell another video of the mayor allegedly smoking crack, to media outlets.
Then, Ford denied using the drug but later acknowledged he had smoked crack cocaine in a “drunken stupor,” but said he was not an addict.
Since then Ford has been filmed numerous times in public appearing erratic and acting impaired. He had admitted to drinking, but never to using drugs.
The Globe and Mail said it was shown three videos of Ford shot secretly on Saturday by the alleged drug dealer. All three were filmed in a cluttered, dimly lit room with a white tile ceiling, it said.
The audio on the three clips was not available because the speaker on the dealer’s phone was broken when he made the recordings.
Morris said it was hard for anyone to prove what is in the pipe the mayor is allegedly seen smoking.
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